


Glass Dove

by IcyPheonix



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Concealshipping, F/M, Injury, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 15:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12684963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyPheonix/pseuds/IcyPheonix
Summary: Even though the war is over the fighting is not. People still hold grudges and prejudices towards those of the Fusion dimension, and especially towards those who took part.Unfortunately for Yuri, he's number one on nearly everyone's hit list. So when Ruri comes to his aid he is understandably confused.





	Glass Dove

**Author's Note:**

> A realllly late entry for Arc V Rare Pair week. The prompt was 'wartime' but I took liberties, this is more, post wartime.
> 
> Also there is no content for Concealshipping and that is a crime. So. I wrote some.

It was, in Ruri’s opinion, a beautiful day. The sun was out and the sky was clear and free of clouds and it was peaceful and quiet.

“You have a lot of nerve showing your face, after what your people did!”

Ruri stopped at the sound of angry voices coming from an empty lot just behind the fence.

Even though the dimensions had been fused, and everything was back to normal, there were still those who held hatred towards those from the Fusion dimension, regardless of their involvement in the war. Especially those originally from the Xyz dimension.

“Not so tough are you without your duel disk?”

“You’re one to talk, ganging up on a guy four to one like this.”

A chill rolled down Ruri’s spine at the sound of the second voice, she knew that voice. How could she not, it was the voice of the duelist who’d kidnapped her after all, Yuri.

There was a noise like a resounding smack and Ruri jumped; clutching the bag of groceries she was carrying closer. It sounded like a fight was going on. She gulped, wondering if she should get involved, surely it was none of her business and Yuri could deal with it on his own. Right?

“Your lot couldn’t even take down actual duelists! They had to resort to unarmed civilians!” snapped the first voice again.

“I guess that makes you as bad as me then,” sneered Yuri, stirring up a cacophony of cries and jeers.

“How dare you Fusion scum!”

“Well as you pointed out, I don’t have my duel disk, and on top of that I’m out numbered. If anything, that makes the lot of you worse than I am. At least my opponents had a fighting chance!”

CRACK!

Ruri gasped at the sound, covering her mouth, that hadn’t sounded pleasant at all, like a fist connecting to a face-Shun had gotten in enough fights keeping her safe for her to recognize the sound of a punch when it happened. Except it didn’t stop at one, it kept going and with each successive hit the pit in her stomach grew.

She didn’t want to get involved, this was Yuri after all, one of the most terrifying duelists she’d ever met, a former enemy, why should she help him?

 _Because it’s the right thing to do,_ she told herself _._

With a groan she charged forward, rounding the corner quickly. She was going to put an end to this.

“Hey, leave him alone!”

She froze at the sight that met her eyes, she recognized the duelists from one of the Resistance bases. One of them held Yuri up, arms hooked under his to hold him in place while a second had hold of his hair, lifting his head up to look at him while his other hand was drawn back in a fist.

Yuri was a mess; the only thing keeping him on his feet was the Heartland duelist that was holding him.

His face sported several fresh bruises and blood trickled from his nose and a split in his lip. His clothes were filthy and it was clear from how he held himself there were more injuries that couldn’t be seen.

At the sound of her voice all heads turned to look at her.

“You stay out of this!” said a teen standing off to the side.

“Oi!” The ringleader elbowed him as he took a step towards Ruri, “Don’t you know who that is? That’s Kurosaki’s little sister.”

“So?”

“What do you mean so? I’m not tangling with him!”

“I said, leave him alone!” she repeated, trying to hide the nervous quiver in her voice.

For a moment they stared at her before the ringleader made a gesture to the teen holding Yuri and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. “It’s not worth it, let’s get out of here!”

They took off across the lot, hopping the fence and vanishing before Ruri could stop them.

Ruri took a hesitant step in Yuri’s direction, watching him carefully as he struggled to pull himself up.

“Do…do you need help?” she asked, reaching a hand out towards him.

“Not from you,” he hissed, spitting out blood as he lifted his head. “I don’t need your pity.” Propping himself up he swatted her hand away, wincing in pain.

Ruri scowled, “I’m not offering you pity, I’m offering you help! You’re bleeding for god sakes!”

“So what? What do you care? I’m not one of your precious Xyz duelists. I’m Fusion remember?” Grimacing in pain he pulled himself to his feet, swaying on the spot. “So let me be.”

He wasn’t on his feet for long before he gave a strangled cry of pain and dropped to his knees once again.

“Maybe you’re not, but you’re still hurt!” said Ruri, folding her arms over her chest. “And it would be wrong to leave you here, you can’t even stand.” She sighed, “I guess it can’t be helped, you’re coming with me and I can patch you up at home.”

“What‽”

 

Getting Yuri home was not particularly easy as he only had one good foot to use, one being too swollen to walk on without him screaming in pain. Ruri offered her shoulder for him to lean on but he refused, opting to hobble along behind her.

She couldn’t understand it, why was he being so stubborn about this?

“If you just let me help we could be home by now,” she said. “You’re only making this worse.” Yuri grunted and continued to limp behind her. “Is it my brother? Because you won’t have to worry about him, he’s hanging out with Yuto so he’s not home and won’t be for a while.”

“Is anyone else home?” he asked after a moment.

“Mr. Hiiragi might be, but I don’t know. But even if someone was, you’d be fine. Now let me help you!”

Yuri winced again as he tried to walk, barely able to put any pressure on his foot without screaming in pain. He looked to her offered arm and finally relented, allowing Ruri to throw one of his arms around her shoulders while hooking her arm around his middle to support him as he hobbled back.

 

Yuri hissed in pain as Ruri eased him onto a chair in the kitchen.

“I still don’t understand why you’re helping me,” he said, leaning back against the chair as he raised his foot for her. “You don’t even like me.”

“I told you, it’s the right thing to do.”

“Ah, so, it’s out of obligation then, you’re helping me to keep your conscience clean.”

“What? No that’s not it at all.”

“Really?” he cocked his head, leaning back to look at her as she dug through a cupboard. “Because that’s what it looks like to me. Miss Goody-Goody couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t patch me up and fix what her buddies did.”

“I just don’t want to see anyone else hurt!” she snapped. “I saw so many people getting hurt during the invasion, I don’t want to see it any more, not now. Whether I like you or not doesn’t matter. I just…don’t want to see anyone else hurt because of this war. Even you.” She wiped her eye with the back of her hand, “Now, stop being so stubborn and let me help you.”

Yuri rolled his eyes, “Do I look like I’m stopping you?” he asked. “I’m still sitting here after all. I’m just trying to understand why you’re helping me.”

Ruri sighed, “I already told you, now, I’m going to look at your foot so this might sting a bit.”

“What’s going to-!” Yuri trailed off in a sharp hiss as she carefully lifted his leg up, propping it on a stool as she undid his shoe. He clenched his eyes shut, blinking back tears as she worked his shoe and sock free of his foot, every little touch and movement sending stinging pains through his leg.

His ankle was bruised and swollen and he could barely move his foot without screaming in pain.

“You aren’t going to be walking on that for a while,” she said with a frown. “If we’re lucky it’ll just be sprained.”

“And if we’re not?”

“Broken, cracked. I’m not a doctor so I don’t know, all I can do is ice it for you.”

Yuri sighed, letting his head fall back against the chair.

After fetching a gel-filled cold pack for his ankle, Ruri moved onto the rest of his injuries, though it took a bit of convincing before she could get him to take his shirt off for her.

He was covered in bruises, some of which had just begun to appear. They covered his chest and stomach from where he’d been hit, and handprint shaped marks covered his arms, a testament to just how tightly they’d been holding him. His cheek was beginning to swell and become discoloured from a well-aimed punch to the face.

Ruri frowned as she took his hand; there wasn’t a single defensive wound to be found.

“Yuri did you even try to fight back?” she asked, carefully dabbing at his injuries.

“What’s the point?” he asked, tilting his head away. “It would only make my situation worse. You saw what they did to me without me fighting back. Besides, they’re right. I’m a monster, this is no less than I deserve.”

Ruri’s frown deepened, “That’s, not true,” she said.

“Isn’t it? Funny, I thought you of all people would agree with me all things considered.” He closed his eyes with a sigh, “I hurt people, hunted them down, how could I NOT deserve this?”

Ruri was quiet as she wiped his injuries down, hands shaking slightly. “Because…because no one deserves this. This is cruel and wrong. And we’re supposed to better than this.” She pressed the cloth to his cheek, dabbing at the scrapes.

“You know, I didn’t care that I was hurting people,” he said, wincing as the cloth brushed over the raw skin. “It just meant I was strong and they were weak. It meant they had a reason to be scared of me. And it meant...I was actually noticed for once.”

Ruri frowned as he tilted his head, letting her reach the injuries on the side of his face. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Everyone was scared of me, of my skill I guess, so I didn’t exactly have any friends,” he said. “And…then The Professor came, and for the first time someone actually saw me, was actually impressed by me. And I ate it all up. I mean, wouldn’t you? Someone like that acknowledging you, praising you? So of course I didn’t think twice about he asked of me.” He gripped his knees tightly as he spoke, hands shaking.

“What about now?” asked Ruri.

“Now?”

“Well, I mean you don’t sound proud of what you did.”

“Because I‘m not. As far as anyone’s concerned I‘m a monster. There are three people at present who seem willing to put up with me,” he said. “Dennis, because he was the only one who’d put up with me before; Yuya, for reasons I will never understand; and Sora, because he made me promise not to try and kill him.”

“Three is better than none,” said Ruri with a soft smile as she pressed a band-aid to his cheek.

“Sometimes it feels more like they’re doing it out of necessity, that they’re just being my friends so I don’t have to be alone.”

“That’s just not true!” said Ruri. “I don’t know Dennis or Sora that well, but I’ve spent a little bit of time around Yuya, and heard enough about him from Yuto. He wouldn’t do that. And I’m sure the other two do care.” She hesitated for a moment before placing her hand on his. “And you’re not a monster.”

“You know are the last person I expected to hear that from.”

“Yuri…I’ve talked with Selena, and she’s no different that you.”

“She didn’t go around turning people into cards for fun,” he said with a hoarse laugh.

“But she could have gone down that path, would have,” said Ruri. “And if she can get a second chance, why shouldn’t you?”

Yuri was quiet as he sat there, letting Ruri’s words sink in. A second chance, did he really deserve such a thing after what he’d done?

Sora and Shun had begun to put aside their differences, much to everyone’s surprise and could actually be in the same room without killing each other. Even Selena had friends outside of Yuzu and the girls. If they could be given second chances by the people they'd wronged then, could he get one too? Did he even deserve it?

The sound of the front door opening broke him from his thoughts and Ruri quickly pulled her hand away.

“I’ll go see who that is. Wouldn’t want to shock anyone by having them walk in on you,” she said before tossing him his shirt. “Here, you should probably put that back on.”

“Good point.”

Without another word Ruri slipped out of the room and off to greet whoever was at the door.

Yuri winced as he pulled his shirt back on, the fabric brushing over his many bruises.

“Shun wait you can’t go in there!”

“I just want a drink of water why can’t I go in...there?” The door swung open and Yuri looked up as Shun stepped into the room. “Ruri why is he here?”

“Hello to you too,” muttered Yuri. “And clearly I’m raiding your kitchen as evidenced by my swollen ankle and bruised face.”

“Yuri be nice,” said Ruri with a sigh. “And Shun don’t kill him please. I need to go find Mr. Shuzo, see if he can drive Yuri home.”

“He can’t get himself home?”

Yuri pulled the ice pack off and lifted his leg up so Shun could see his ankle. “Yes, because I can absolutely walk on this.”

Shun gave him a hard look before walking past him to get a drink. Satisfied that he’d made his point, Yuri put the cold pack back on and leaned back in the chair.

 

Shuzo fret over him nearly as much as Ruri had, not having realized that Yuri’s condition was that bad until he walked into the kitchen and nearly screamed.

When asked about what had happened, Yuri simply replied that he’d tripped and fallen down some stairs. A look from Shun made it clear that he didn’t believe a word out of his mouth, although Shuzo didn’t question it and quickly agreed to drive him home.

Leaning on Ruri for support, Yuri hobbled out to the car, wincing as he moved.

“Why are you doing this Ruri?” asked Shun, watching as Shuzo left.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “Besides, he deserves a second chance too.”

 

 

Yuri sighed as he lay on the couch, his ankle now properly bound and braced after a trip to the doctor and x-rayed. He’d said it was sprained and Yuri wouldn’t be able to walk on it until the swelling went down, which mean he was confined to the house, and most often, the couch.

“So, Ruri huh?”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

Sora grinned and flashed a slip of paper, “So, this isn’t a receipt from the florist’s then? For some lilies was it?”

“It’s not what you think!” he sputtered, sitting up quickly and making a grab for the paper as Sora yanked his hand away. “It’s just a thank you, for helping me.”

“Really? I wonder what Shun would think? Oh, or maybe Yuto?” With a grin Sora dashed off, laughing as he stuffed the paper away. “I think I’ll go tell him.”

“Come back here you candy filled gremlin! Sora!”

 

“Hey Ruri, who sent the flowers?” asked Rin, leaning over her shoulder to look at the flowers in her hands, a small bouquet of white lilies.

Ruri looked down at the card before turning it face down and shrugging, “Don’t know, there’s no name.”

“Ohh, so it’s a secret admirer,” teased Rin. “Better not le your brother find out. You’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Oh I’m sure,” laughed Ruri, looking back at the card as Rin left. “Especially if he figures out who sent them.”

Sure enough there was no name on the card, just the words ‘thank you’.


End file.
